I’ll never forget my introduction to the fate of trash on the landscape. I spent most of my young life in Virginia Beach, a city marked by rapid expansion. While the sheer number of people moving into the area brought fresh talent, job creation, and the amenities of big city life, increased crime, overcrowding, and trash came along for the ride. Lots of trash.
Creative Use of Trash
The piles of trash grew along with the burgeoning city. What was to be done with all that refuse? The powers that be decided to use it for recreation. A 165-acre park created on an abandoned landfill resulted, featuring two mountains, two lakes, playgrounds, a skating area, and multi-use paths. It would be America’s first park created from rubbish. Mount Trashmore, the park’s namesake and the taller of the two mountains, stands 60 feet tall and 800 feet long. Its 640,000 tons of trash were compacted and constructed by layering solid waste and clean soil.
Landfills Today
U.S. federal legislation requires today’s landfills to be designed, operated and monitored to protect the surrounding area from any contaminants that may be discarded along with household trash. They cannot be located in areas designated as environmentally sensitive.
Monitoring equipment is used to uncover signs of groundwater contamination and to detect escaping gases.
The Effect of Landfills on the Environment
And escape the gases do. Landfill gas is primarily composed of potent greenhouse gases: about 50 percent methane and 50 percent carbon dioxide. Methane is much more damaging: trapping 25 more times of heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Landfills release gases from water vapor, hydrogen, and organic compounds, adding to climate change.
Another environmental hazard is caused by the release of liquids produced by landfills. Although the landfills must be made with plastic or clay liners, the liners can and do develop leaks. The liquid resulting from these sites can foul nearby water sources.
Another concern is that establishing landfills destroys local wildlife habitats. By a University of Colorado estimate, active landfills have destroyed at least 1,800,000 acres of habitat in the U.S. alone. And that’s not all. The liquid produced by landfills, leachate, may contain ammonia. Adding ammonia to the environment produces nitrate, which then can cause excessive plant growth. Plant growth can lead to the production of dead zones. Animals cannot survive here due to a lack of oxygen.
How Landfills Affect People
The presence of landfills can impact the values of nearby homes. Odors, smoke, noise, and flies proliferate. But more important: the release of emissions from landfills can contribute to congenital deficiencies in children whose families live within a mile of hazardous waste landfills.
History of Landfills
People have needed effective solutions to deal with trash since the beginning of human civilization. Native Americans kept dedicated sites for their trash, too. These mounds of refuse, or middens as they are called by archeologists, provide a glimpse of prehistoric life. The seashells and fish and animal bones in the middens hold evidence of the dietary habits of ancient people. Tools found within them speak to the people’s stage of development. Middens along the coastal areas in Maine run from 5,000 years old until the arrival of immigrants from Europe.
Midden heaps are found in Greece, too. According to the Guinness World Records website, the earliest-known landfill was created in Knossos, Crete — now known as Greece — around 3000 BCE (Before the Common Era, formerly known as B.C.). Residents dug large pits, threw in their waste, and then covered them.
Landfills Today
U.S. federal legislation requires today’s landfills to be designed, operated and monitored to protect the surrounding area from any contaminants that may be discarded along with household trash. They cannot be located in areas designated as environmentally sensitive.
Monitoring equipment is used to uncover signs of groundwater contamination and to detect escaping gases.
The Effect of Landfills on the Environment
And escape the gases do. Landfill gas is primarily composed of potent greenhouse gases: about 50 percent methane and 50 percent carbon dioxide. Methane is much more damaging: trapping 25 more times of heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Landfills release gases from water vapor, hydrogen, and organic compounds, adding to climate change.
Another environmental hazard is caused by the release of liquids produced by landfills. Although the landfills must be made with plastic or clay liners, the liners can and do develop leaks. The liquid resulting from these sites can foul nearby water sources.
Another concern is that establishing landfills destroys local wildlife habitats. By a University of Colorado estimate, active landfills have destroyed at least 1,800,000 acres of habitat in the U.S. alone. And that’s not all. The liquid produced by landfills, leachate, may contain ammonia. Adding ammonia to the environment produces nitrate, which then can cause excessive plant growth. Plant growth can lead to the production of dead zones. Animals cannot survive here due to a lack of oxygen.
How Landfills Affect People
The presence of landfills can impact the values of nearby homes. Odors, smoke, noise, and flies proliferate. But more important: the release of emissions from landfills can contribute to congenital deficiencies in children whose families live within a mile of hazardous waste landfills.
Today’s Trash
Nearly 5 pounds per person of MSW is tossed in the U.S. every day — more than 292 million tons in one year — 2018 alone. Of that, about 69 million tons were recycled and 25 million tons composted according to the U.S. EPA. About 146 million tons went to landfills.
The total municipal solid waste from just 2018 breaks down like this:
- Paper/paperboard: 67.4 million tons
- Food waste: 63.1 million tons
- Plastic: 35.7 million tons
- Yard clippings: 35.4 million tons
- Metal
- Wood
- Textiles
- Glass
- Rubber and leather
- Other waste
- Electronics: 7 million tons
We’re not doing badly with recycling, although we can do much better. Total recycled materials accounted for just over 69 million tons in 2018, including:
- Paper and paperboard: 66.40%
- Metals: 12.60%
- Leather, rubber, textiles: 6.05%
- Wood: 4.49%
- Plastics: 4.47%
- Glass: 4.43%
Composting (food and yard) and other food management techniques accounted for 42.6 million tons.
A total of 34.6 million tons of municipal solid waste was combusted for energy recovery in 2018.
Closed Landfills: Possible Uses
With more than 3,000 active landfills and more than 10,000 closed sites, the fate of trash dumps becomes an important consideration. Many pros stress the importance of considering the eventual fate of a potential landfill as one is designed. According to Geoengineer.org, website, recreational facilities such as golf courses, parks, and trails are among the most common uses of waste sites.
And yet, turning closed landfills into recreational areas brings its own set of problems. Among considerations that must be taken include land settlement affecting drainage patterns, possible contact with the landfilled material affecting humans and wildlife, invasive species overtaking native ones, and escaping landfill gas. Each of these issues should be accounted for in the development of landfill areas.
Sometimes closed landfills become home to commercial or industrial buildings, although these too bring the same problems and must be addressed during the design process.
Consider Your Choices
The management of trash has been and continues to be a huge consideration for human development. Making do with less, recycling more, and composting yard trimmings and vegetables can all bring measures of relief from our burden of trash. It’s up to every one of us to cut back on buying products we don’t need and trashing refuse that can be recycled. Kudos to municipalities that require residents to separate trash for recycling, and to those that don’t have such programs in place, get with the times. Dealing with our trash constructively is a civic duty each of us should take on.
SOURCES
FIRST LANDFILL PARK A MODEL OF SUCCESS. South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Dec. 4, 1988.
Mount Trashmore Park. City of Virginia Beach.
First landfill sites. Guinness World Records.
Basic Information about Landfill Gas. United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Importance of Methane. United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Basic Information about Landfills. United States Environmental Protection Agency.
The Hidden Damage of Landfills. Kayla Vasarhelyi. University of Colorado Boulder. April 15, 2021.
National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes and Recycling. United States Environmental Agency.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Landfills. Conserve Energy Future.
End Uses of Landfills. November 20, 2017. Geoengineer.org.